A View From the Corner Chair
Spring is a good time to look back on the academic year and reflect on how things went. Some of the good things that happened are:
•First Annual Department Alumni Dinner/Activity: Held in October, we had 61 in attendance, including three members of the first official department graduating class (1956). We enjoyed recognizing them as we reviewed a little of the department history. Please mark October 17, 1997 on your calendar for our next Alumni activity (again during Homecoming Week)!
•Department Reviews: Our undergraduate program was evaluated by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in October, and preliminary feedback indicates that we will be re-accredited for another six years (always welcome news). In addition, the university has initiated a review of all department graduate programs, and we underwent that review in February but haven't received any feedback. We learned in September that the National Research Council ranked our department doctoral program number 50 out of 93 chemical engineering departments, which we felt good about in view of the time we also devote to undergraduate education.
•The Bill and Margaret Pope Professorship: This professorship was established through the incredible gift of over $1 million to the department by Bill and Margaret. It is a great boost to our department efforts.
But spring is also a good time to look forward, and I would like to ask your help with the future, particularly regarding an important aspect of our mission - student placement.
One of the most gratifying parts of teaching at BYU over the past 20 years has been watching our outstanding graduates leave here year after year to make important contributions to their communities and to the Church. Our goal and our dream is to teach and and have them learn under the influence of the Lord's Spirit in order to prepare them to assume their roles as future leaders of our country and the Church. But an important step is that they find employment. Furthermore, that employment includes not only permanent employment after graduation, but also summer internships and co-ops before graduation, because internships and co-ops provide a strong advantage in obtaining later permanent jobs (as well as providing significant education).
Unfortunately, the placement of BYU students is hampered by geographic isolation. Companies prefer to come to universities in their own locality to seek their professional people. But very few companies which hire chemical engineers are closer than 700-1000 miles from Provo. We have been encouraging and teaching our students to be aggressive and to use tools like the internet to find jobs in distant locations, and some have been successful. But it is hard, and not all of our students find jobs. We have great students!!! Once we place a BYU student with a company, there is a high probability that the company will come back for more. Our problem is making those initial contacts and establishing (and maintaining) those relationships.
We need a Network of BYU Chemical Engineers, where you talk to us, we talk to you, and you talk to each other. One facet of that network would involve employment, and we are asking you to tell us when there are openings for summer internships, co-ops, and permanent jobs in your companies so that BYU students (and alumni) can apply. As a BYU ChE family, we need each other. I believe that you share with us the dream of what these great BYU students can -- and must -- do. Let's work together!
Speaking of a Network of BYU ChE's, the department website gives us a great opportunity to provide a communication hub for our alumni. How would you feel about our maintaining an alumni information file on the website so that you could find a former classmate, could learn which BYU ChE's are in a particular location, etc.? To protect privacy, we would include on the website only those who give us permission to do so. Of course, the information would be used occasionally by head-hunters or other unintended users, but the positive aspects would seem to outweigh the negatives. Please give us your feedback about such an idea and, if you support it, communicate your permission for us to include whatever information you wish (e.g. mailing address, e-mail address, telephone, FAX). I look forward to hearing from you.
Kenneth A. Solen